To Regulators, Art Troupe’s Wrestling Looks Real Enough

“Among the enduring questions of modern times is whether professional wrestling is real or pretend. Washington-state bureaucrats have opened a new chapter in the debate by ruling that wrestling is a real form of sport even when it consists of a man in a banana suit performing fake kung-fu moves in a tavern.” As a result, a Seattle group that calls what it does “fight cabaret” must meet safety regulations whose costs threaten its existence.